Rama and Basha reached an Agreement, Albanian Elections on July 25

The agreement reached between Prime Minister Edi Rama and opposition leader Lulzim Basha recently provides the postponement for a week of election date, from 18 to 25 June and the registration of opposition parties and lists with their candidates by May 26.

The way the agreement is formulated leaves no room for coalition participation. An issue that is expected to trigger debate during the changes that will be made on Electoral Code for the implementation of this clause of the agreement. Also on May 25 will be held partial elections for the Mayor of Kavaja, which were canceled a few weeks ago.

The surprise part of the deal has also to do with the profound changes ton the government key posts, where the opposition will have the deputy prime minister and will lead the Interior Ministry, Finance, Education, Health, Justice And Social Welfare. All new Ministers will have to be technical personnel to be nominated by the opposition, which will also run some institutions such as the Energy Distribution Operator, Mortgages, Prisons and the Agricultural Development Agency. Also the proposal of the opposition will be the Chairman of the Central Election Commission, and the People's Advocate.

The parties have also agreed that, in the framework of the guarantees that the opposition demands for elections to change the Criminal Code, "to strengthen criminal policy through sanctions, creating new offenses, returning the sale of the vote in corruption". The legal framework for financing political parties will also be strengthened "by regulating and limiting election expenditures, including those materials, costs and transparency related to them", as well as "improving the standards of electoral campaign coverage in the media ".

All these changes, including those in the electoral code, appointments of new ministers, and members of the Vetting Commissions, will be carried out at an extraordinary parliament session.

The parties have decided that with the onset of the new legislature to undertake a Constitutional Reform and electoral reform, including the introduction of electronic technology in the process of voting and counting for the upcoming elections./Oculus News